Time Out magazine plots flotation to value company at £200m
Magazine publisher Time Out is planning a flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
The listing, planned for June on the alternative investment market, would value the company at more than £200m.
Oakley Capital, Time Out's controlling shareholder since 2011, has confirmed “it has commenced a process of review of the investment in Time Out”.
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It said this “may or may not lead to the partial sale of the group at a valuation that could be enhancing to the net asset value of” Oakley Capital.
Sky News first reported that Oakley Capital wants to raise around £80m through the flotation, which is being handled by investment bank Liberum.
Time Out was founded in 1968 in London and now operates across 107 cities in 39 countries.
The magazine switched to being a free weekly publication in London in 2012. It competes with other free magazines in the capital such as Shortlist, NME, Sport and Stylist.
In the second half of 2015, it had an average UK circulation of just over 300,000, according to ABC.
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Sky News reported that former Marks & Spencer chairman Lord Rose is expected to be on the board of Time Out Group along with Christine Petersen, formerly of TripAdvisor, and the magazine's founder, Tony Elliott.
The company's chief executive of Julio Bruno and Oakley Capital founder Peter Dubens is expected to be chairman when Time Out goes public.